For love of country

Sgt. Kory M. Fitzpatrick, 23, graduated from Oxford High School in May 2006, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps less than a month later — and quickly decided to become career military.

“I believe everyone should serve in the military at some point. They just might fall in love with it, as I did,” he said.

Although he said he was only doing his job, that love of his job led him to heroic action in October, and has earned him recognition.

The U.S. Marine Corps sergeant was part of a search operation in the western part of Taghaz, Afghanistan, on Oct. 15 when automatic rifle and machine gun fire rained down from nearby buildings.

According to a summary by the Marine Corps, during that firefight, “Hospital Corpsman Third Class (Michael) Wengloski suffered a gunshot wound to his left forearm and was pinned down by fire between a berm and a wall.”

Sgt. Fitzpatrick led his squad, “running into enemy fire in order to provide sufficient suppression for the casualty to be evacuated” into a nearby building, where the wounded medic, squad members and 15 civilians, including children, took cover from the heavy fire.

After the platoon commander called for air support, “Sgt. Fitzpatrick personally exposed himself to enemy fire in order to mark the target with his M203 grenade launcher, enabling air support to identify and neutralize the enemy threat. This bold action enabled the casualty to be evacuated.”

That evacuation was urgent, according to Sgt. Fitzpatrick, who said, “The corpsman had an arterial bleed. I led four guys through enemy fire from machine guns, then shot a grenade launcher to mark where the insurgents were. Air support took care of it, and we got the corpsman to a helicopter.”

He said the wounded corpsman has had six surgeries to repair his wounded arm, but is expected to regain full motion in it.

“Mike's visiting Camp Lejeune next week. We'll all get to see him,” Sgt. Fitzpatrick said.

For his heroic service in saving the life of the corpsman and for many other actions during his most recent deployment to Afghanistan, Sgt. Fitzpatrick was awarded the coveted Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device for Heroic Achievement on Nov. 22.

The medal is awarded “for meritorious service in a combat or noncombat situation based on sustained performance of a superlative nature.”

Sgt. Fitzpatrick is stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where his wife also works. He trains infantry for deployments and mentors squad leaders. He and his wife, Amanda Radloff Fitzpatrick, a 2007 Oxford High School graduate, married in September 2009 and have a son, Kameron, who will be 2 in April.

The couple bought a house in nearby Beulaville, N.C., in 2010, when they moved off base.

Starting in July, Sgt. Fitzpatrick expects to be serving as a combat instructor at Camp Lejeune's Camp Geiger School of Infantry until his next overseas deployment.

During his nearly six years in the Marines, Sgt. Fitzpatrick has had two tours of duty in Afghanistan, where he served six months in 2008 and seven months in 2011.

Lt. Angevine said Sgt. Fitzpatrick traveled more than 1,400 kilometers, “held over 20 key leader engagements with local elders,” and joined with Afghan border police on 15 missions last year.

While searching one home in May, Sgt. Fitzpatrick found a locked box containing correspondence with people plotting to place improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, in the area.

“This correspondence proved critical to proving the link between this emplacer and numerous other IED facilitators in the Reg-E Khan Neshin District, Afghanistan,” Lt. Angevine said.

On July 20, Sgt. Fitzpatrick was on patrol on a bridge in Taghaz, when he noticed an IED on the bridge.

“It was dug in pretty good. I saw a glimpse of something. That was a close call. It was 10 feet from me and aimed right at me. It was my lucky day,” he said.

He cleared his patrol safely away from the device and activated an electronic counter-measure system. While waiting six hours for the explosive ordinance disposal team, “Sgt. Fitzpatrick re-entered the kill zone, approaching within 20 meters of the device, in order to replace the batteries in the system. As a result of his initiative and disregard for his own safety, Sgt. Fitzpatrick preserved Marine and civilian lives,” Lt. Angevine said.

“I was doing my job,” Sgt. Fitzpatrick said.

He is one of four sons of Kimberly Creamer, who lives at 10 Rollingwood Drive in Oxford. His brother Kevin Fitzpatrick, a graduate of Holy Name High School and also a Marine, is stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California. Brother Kyle Fitzpatrick, a graduate of Malden High School, is a sergeant for the Massachusetts Department of Correction, and his youngest brother, Michael Creamer, a sophomore at Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School in Charlton, also talks about joining the military.

“I think the military is good for anyone. If you have doubts about your life, they will steer you in the right path,” Sgt. Fitzpatrick said.

“I think we do a lot of good things for a lot of people. The Afghan people are working as hard as they can to strengthen themselves and stand on their own two feet. I think the military does a good job.”